SHARESHAREFormer Mayor Richard M. Daley and his son Patrick Daley are among the financial backers of a venture that’s cashing in by financing rehabbers who buy homes from the Cook County Land Bank Authority and flip them for double, triple, even 50 times the amount they paid the county months earlier.The company, Renovo Financial, has financed 75 purchases over the past five years of homes that were then refurbished and sold. Sixty-five of the properties financed by Renovo have been resold at a median of $145,341 over what the rehabbers paid the land bank, records obtained by the Chicago...…SHARESHAREFormer Mayor Richard M. Daley and his son Patrick Daley are among the financial backers of a venture that’s cashing in by financing rehabbers who buy homes from the Cook County Land Bank Authority and flip them for double, triple, even 50 times the amount they paid the county months earlier.The company, Renovo Financial, has financed 75 purchases over the past five years of homes that were then refurbished and sold. Sixty-five of the properties financed by Renovo have been resold at a median of $145,341 over what the rehabbers paid the land bank, records obtained by the Chicago...WW…

SHAREChicago Public Schools plans to end its maligned relationship worth hundreds of millions of dollars with two facility management companies, one of which for years has maintained filthy schools, in an effort to regain control over the cleaning and maintenance of its hundreds of buildings.CPS officials are renewing contracts with Aramark and Sodexo for one more year to give themselves time to come up with an alternative, then they’re calling it quits after a turbulent stretch of outsourced work that includes oversight of janitorial, landscaping, snow removal and pest control services.CPS...…SHAREChicago Public Schools plans to end its maligned relationship worth hundreds of millions of dollars with two facility management companies, one of which for years has maintained filthy schools, in an effort to regain control over the cleaning and maintenance of its hundreds of buildings.CPS officials are renewing contracts with Aramark and Sodexo for one more year to give themselves time to come up with an alternative, then they’re calling it quits after a turbulent stretch of outsourced work that includes oversight of janitorial, landscaping, snow removal and pest control services.CPS...WW…

SHARETwo years ago, the Cook County Land Bank Authority sold two West Side lots to a convicted drug dealer who at the time was free on bail and required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet while awaiting trial in another drug case for intent to distribute a kilo of cocaine.Obed Eli Ornelas paid $22,602 for the adjacent lots in the 600 block of North Cicero Avenue in West Garfield Park, less than the length of a football field north of his existing used-car business, Xclusive Automotive LLC.Together, the vacant lots had amassed nearly $10,000 in unpaid taxes when Ornelas signed a deal...…SHARETwo years ago, the Cook County Land Bank Authority sold two West Side lots to a convicted drug dealer who at the time was free on bail and required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet while awaiting trial in another drug case for intent to distribute a kilo of cocaine.Obed Eli Ornelas paid $22,602 for the adjacent lots in the 600 block of North Cicero Avenue in West Garfield Park, less than the length of a football field north of his existing used-car business, Xclusive Automotive LLC.Together, the vacant lots had amassed nearly $10,000 in unpaid taxes when Ornelas signed a deal...WW…

SHARESHAREThe owners of a mall called Chinatown Square had, over eight years, failed to pay more than $1 million in property taxes and interest for the mall’s sweeping plaza and brick-paved corridors along Archer Avenue in the heart of booming Chinatown.They say they had no idea that they owed any taxes until 2017. That’s when an obscure Cook County government agency filed a claim at the county treasurer’s scavenger tax sale to eventually acquire the mall’s 62,000 square feet of common areas, which are separate from its stores and restaurants.The Cook County Land Bank Authority’s original...…SHARESHAREThe owners of a mall called Chinatown Square had, over eight years, failed to pay more than $1 million in property taxes and interest for the mall’s sweeping plaza and brick-paved corridors along Archer Avenue in the heart of booming Chinatown.They say they had no idea that they owed any taxes until 2017. That’s when an obscure Cook County government agency filed a claim at the county treasurer’s scavenger tax sale to eventually acquire the mall’s 62,000 square feet of common areas, which are separate from its stores and restaurants.The Cook County Land Bank Authority’s original...WW…

SHAREFor years, nobody wanted the abandoned warehouse in the west suburbs.A big reason: The building — an old perfume factory in Bellwood — had unpaid property taxes topping $1 million that anyone who bought it would have to pay.To try to get the property once again bringing in taxes, the Cook County Land Bank Authority stepped in.The county government agency was established in 2011 to do that very sort of thing and given an unusual power to help make it happen: It can wipe out any unpaid taxes on vacant property so prospective buyers won’t have that added financial burden. All they have to...…SHAREFor years, nobody wanted the abandoned warehouse in the west suburbs.A big reason: The building — an old perfume factory in Bellwood — had unpaid property taxes topping $1 million that anyone who bought it would have to pay.To try to get the property once again bringing in taxes, the Cook County Land Bank Authority stepped in.The county government agency was established in 2011 to do that very sort of thing and given an unusual power to help make it happen: It can wipe out any unpaid taxes on vacant property so prospective buyers won’t have that added financial burden. All they have to...WW…

SHAREThe vast majority of Chicago Public Schools students won’t return to classrooms for the start of the second quarter next month as public health conditions worsen this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to three sources with knowledge of the school system’s plans.In a call with principals Thursday, officials said most of CPS’ 300,000 students at the 500-plus district-run, non-charter schools will continue learning from home as the quarter gets underway in early November, sources said. The quarter ends in early February.Preschool students and children in special...…SHAREThe vast majority of Chicago Public Schools students won’t return to classrooms for the start of the second quarter next month as public health conditions worsen this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to three sources with knowledge of the school system’s plans.In a call with principals Thursday, officials said most of CPS’ 300,000 students at the 500-plus district-run, non-charter schools will continue learning from home as the quarter gets underway in early November, sources said. The quarter ends in early February.Preschool students and children in special...WW…

SHAREChicago’s mail-in voters who don’t hurry to send in their ballots might have something to worry about.Elections and postal officials say they’re confident that mailed ballots will arrive safely and be counted.To test whether that confidence is warranted, the Chicago Sun-Times dropped 100 ballot-sized envelopes in mailboxes all around the city, aiming to mimic as closely as possible the mail-in balloting process.After two weeks, one of the 100 envelopes still hadn’t been delivered. Two weeks is a key measure because the state of Illinois allows mail-in ballots to be counted only if they...…SHAREChicago’s mail-in voters who don’t hurry to send in their ballots might have something to worry about.Elections and postal officials say they’re confident that mailed ballots will arrive safely and be counted.To test whether that confidence is warranted, the Chicago Sun-Times dropped 100 ballot-sized envelopes in mailboxes all around the city, aiming to mimic as closely as possible the mail-in balloting process.After two weeks, one of the 100 envelopes still hadn’t been delivered. Two weeks is a key measure because the state of Illinois allows mail-in ballots to be counted only if they...WW…

SHAREPublicly funded charter schools in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois received a total of between $31.2 million and $74.7 million in federal loans intended to bolster small businesses and non-profits during the coronavirus pandemic, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found.Thirty operators of 56 schools got the federal money even though, unlike many other employers that sought Paycheck Protection Program loans, they hadn’t lost any of their normal funding from Illinois taxpayers.That prompted Chicago Public Schools officials to call Wednesday for an investigation of why the privately...…SHAREPublicly funded charter schools in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois received a total of between $31.2 million and $74.7 million in federal loans intended to bolster small businesses and non-profits during the coronavirus pandemic, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found.Thirty operators of 56 schools got the federal money even though, unlike many other employers that sought Paycheck Protection Program loans, they hadn’t lost any of their normal funding from Illinois taxpayers.That prompted Chicago Public Schools officials to call Wednesday for an investigation of why the privately...WW…

SHAREGoodbye, field trips and perfect attendance awards. Hello, one-way hallways, daily temperature checks and quarantine rooms.That’s some of what we can look ahead to now that Gov. J.B. Pritzker gave his approval last week for schools in Illinois to reopen for in-class instruction this fall, encouraging schools to welcome back kids and staff under detailed state guidelines aimed at keeping them safe.In Chicago’s new normal, there will be face masks on everyone over 2, bans on handshakes and any other touching, tons of hand-washing and six-feet social distancing requirements in classrooms,...…SHAREGoodbye, field trips and perfect attendance awards. Hello, one-way hallways, daily temperature checks and quarantine rooms.That’s some of what we can look ahead to now that Gov. J.B. Pritzker gave his approval last week for schools in Illinois to reopen for in-class instruction this fall, encouraging schools to welcome back kids and staff under detailed state guidelines aimed at keeping them safe.In Chicago’s new normal, there will be face masks on everyone over 2, bans on handshakes and any other touching, tons of hand-washing and six-feet social distancing requirements in classrooms,...WW…

SHARESHAREA Cook County agency now under two separate reviews over insider dealings gave its $225,750-a-year executive director a $45,000 performance bonus last year — and plans to give him another for the same amount this year.Since Robert Rose Jr. was hired in 2015 to run the Cook County Land Bank Authority, he has been paid more than $1.1 million — including $107,500 in bonuses, records show.Rose was given those bonuses under the terms of employment contracts signed by Bridget Gainer, the elected Cook County Board member who, with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, founded the...…SHARESHAREA Cook County agency now under two separate reviews over insider dealings gave its $225,750-a-year executive director a $45,000 performance bonus last year — and plans to give him another for the same amount this year.Since Robert Rose Jr. was hired in 2015 to run the Cook County Land Bank Authority, he has been paid more than $1.1 million — including $107,500 in bonuses, records show.Rose was given those bonuses under the terms of employment contracts signed by Bridget Gainer, the elected Cook County Board member who, with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, founded the...WW…